# Life Course Approach to Racial Disparities in Sleep and Implications on Cardiometabolic Risk During Adulthood

> **NIH NIH F31** · EMORY UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $34,832

## Abstract

Project Summary (Abstract)
Cardiometabolic diseases are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the U.S. An increasingly
recognized health behavior involved in the development of cardiometabolic risk factors is sleep duration. Sleep
duration has been linked to the development of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension and may be a key
contributor to racial disparities in cardiometabolic health. The majority of studies have examined adulthood
sleep duration and adulthood cardiometabolic health, but not the impact of sleep duration across the life span
on adulthood cardiometabolic health. Changes in sleep across the life span have been documented with
average sleep duration decreasing during adolescence, increasing during transition into adulthood, and
declining in later adulthood. However, this approach to examining sleep duration trends of using averages
assumes that the overall population follows these exact trends and may mask the various distinct sleep
duration trajectories that may exist that can have cardiometabolic health implications in adulthood.
Furthermore, racial disparities in sleep among adolescents have been well-documented. Given that sleep
duration during adolescence predicts sleep in adulthood, reducing sleep disparities during adolescence may
help to alleviate disparities during adulthood, but few studies have examined underlying mechanisms for these
disparities. Stressors at the neighborhood and family context may be a contributor to racial disparities in sleep
among adolescent as they have been shown to be patterned by race/ethnicity and associated with sleep
duration. This proposed project seeks to examine racial disparities in sleep duration across the life course and
cardiometabolic risk during adulthood using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult
Health. Aim 1 will evaluate whether family (e.g. family SES, single parent household, and parental support) and
neighborhood stressors (neighborhood SES, perceived safety, and social cohesion) explain racial disparities in
short sleep duration among U.S. adolescents. Aim 2 will Identify distinct sleep duration trajectories from
adolescence to adulthood and determine whether trajectory membership differs across race/ethnicity groups.
Aim 3 will estimate the association between sleep duration trajectories from adolescence to adulthood and
adult cardiometabolic risk factors and determine whether this relationship differs by race/ethnicity. Results from
this research will improve our understanding of racial disparities in sleep duration across the life span and be
used to inform interventions to reduce disparities and improve cardiometabolic health. The applicant has an
exceptional mentoring team and training plan that will ensure the successful completion of this proposed
project and preparation of the applicant for an academic career.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10068965
- **Project number:** 1F31HL151126-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** EMORY UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Ryan Saelee
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $34,832
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2021-05-07

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10068965

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10068965, Life Course Approach to Racial Disparities in Sleep and Implications on Cardiometabolic Risk During Adulthood (1F31HL151126-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10068965. Licensed CC0.

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